Petitions and joint letters to Council

Individuals and groups can express concern about an issue and ask Council to take action by organising a petition or joint letter. Both petitions and joint letters should be submitted to Council in the same way.

A petition normally has a request (formally called a ‘prayer’) at the top of each page of signatures. The prayer should read "We the undersigned residents and ratepayers of Whittlesea City formally request Council to…", and should be followed by the signatories’ full names, addresses and signatures.

A joint letter is a letter signed by persons residing at more than one address, that attempts to influence the Council’s decision making or actions. The joint letter must contain the signatories’ full names, addresses and signatures.

Preparing your petition or joint letter

Your petition or joint letter to Council must:

be addressed to the Mayor and Councillors of the Whittlesea City Council

not relate to a matter beyond the powers of Council to address

state the facts which the petitioners wish to bring to the notice of the Council

contain a request for Council to take one or more specified actions

not be defamatory, indecent, abusive or objectionable in language or substance

be in a legible and permanent form of writing, typing or printing (email petitions will not be accepted)

be in English or accompanied by a translation certified to be correct - the person certifying the translation must place their name and address on the translation

not contain any text alterations

feature the entire wording of the ‘prayer’ or request on every page that people sign

not be attached, stapled or pinned to other documents besides another page of the petition

Rules about signatures

All the signatures on a petition or joint letter must:

be made by the person signing in his or her writing (a petitioner who is unable to sign must make a mark in the presence of a witness, who must sign as witness and write his or her address, and the name and address of the petitioner)

not be copied, pasted or transferred on to the petition

not be placed on a blank page or the back of a sheet containing the terms of the petition

How to lodge a petition

For more information on serving a petition or joint letter to Council, call us on 9217 2223.

After you lodge a petition or joint letter

We will notify the person who submits the petition or joint letter – or the person whose name appears first on the petition or joint letter - that we have received it.

We will do our best to table the petition or joint letter at the next Ordinary Council meeting after we receive it. When the petition or joint letter relates to an item on that Council meeting agenda, it will be considered with the matter at the meeting.

We will advise the person who submitted the petition or joint letter of the outcome.